How to focus on the sparkle of success

Women in Business Lunch with Dr Sally Cockburn

Having moved house recently, I had not yet been to any events organised by my new local council until I had the opportunity to attend a business lunch for women last Friday. As a translator who mostly works from home, these kinds of networking and business events are important for you and your business. They allow you to combat the loneliness of working as a freelancer and you may just even make some great local friends through going to networking events. Think about it – these are people who more than likely also work from home, run their own business and understand the same pressures and challenges you face. You probably share a lot of interests. And it’s only for a couple of hours!

The guest speaker at this event was Dr Sally Cockburn. Sally is a GP and health advocate with a twist. She is known as “Dr Feelgood”, capable of demystifying medicine, the human body and relationships. She asked us what success meant to us and went on to present on how to be successful and still have a life in her candid, informative, funny and knowledgeable style. She emphasised that women often look after everyone else before themselves, and that risking your health is not a good way to be able to ensure that you can enjoy your future.

“You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.”

From a medical perspective and drawing on her own experience as a GP yet ignoring her symptoms of diabetes, she encouraged women to get their check-ups, breast screens and for those over 50 their bowel cancer screening and reminded us that 1 in 5 Australians will experience depression in their adult life. You need your health. From a mindset perspective she compared women to a plate juggling act, urging us to rationalise our plates, to take a step back and decide what is really important. She told the story of her friend who has a family ritual of eating dinner together and talking about the “sparkle in your day” – one thing that made you feel good. It may have been a small gesture by someone else or a major achievement at work, or just being with your family and listening to what is important to them. The point is to think about how you felt not how much you did. In the words of Tigger, our life is about resilience in the face of stress and change,

“Life is not about how fast you run or how high you climb but how well you bounce.”